Bradley's Buzz

bub109 Tanya Tucker – Should I Do It
December 11, 2007
Original Release: July 1981
MCA Records #5228

It was around 1981 that I decided I frickin’ loved Tanya Tucker – sure I had known of her for quite awhile having been forced to listen to country music for most of my young life, but by 1981 it was cool to like some country – after all Urban Cowboy was a huge frickin’ hit and suddenly every country star was all over the pop radio with poppy country tunes – Juice Newton hit it big, Rosanne Cash was crossing over with ease and of course there was always Dolly.

But Tanya helped pave that way as well having already done her pop and rock on previous records. With 1980’s Dreamlovers, our girl headed back to country but country was a little different and it certainly had the melody and themes of some pop songs, which is probably why I frickin’ love Should I Do It. I'm not sure how or why certain things capture masses and others don't - this album only hit #50 on the country charts making it her second album in a row not to hit the top 40, and neither of the singles entered the top 40 - though I have to say the album did hit #180 on the pop album charts - which is kind of cool but not cool enough cause this album really makes me smile... Why? you ask, let me tell you all about it....

Where Dreamlovers had good songs, there were still some that just seemed quickly put together and Tanya was still just toying around with her raunchy voice, but with her next album she totally owned it. This is where the real spirited “don’t screw with me” and the heartache “I’ll still go on but it won’t be easy” mentalities meshed together and helped forge her into what would be her ultimate hay day of the late 80’s and early 90’s, and I think it all began here with Should I Do It.

First of all, the first cut, first single and title cut all in one is of course "Should I Do It", so poppy and fun that the Pointer Sisters actually remade it and had a hit with as well, but to me it’s always been Tanya’s song. It’s snappy and fun and full of frickin’ Tanya – don’t believe me check it out down below.

Similar in tone is my second fav from the album, “I Oughta Let Go” – another song about not really wanting to commit to someone and realizing you should probably walk away cause the person isn’t so good for you but Tanya does it so brilliantly and with such a sly wink in her tone, you get the impression she’ll be okay no matter what she does. Plus this one has one of those great sing along choruses I love so.

“Halfway To Heaven” seems a fitting title for a song that feels like its halfway to heaven – a bit of a twang, a lot of sass and a whole lot of greatness – “Don’t take me halfway to heaven/ honey don’t you lead me on this way/ don’t take me halfway to heaven/ darlin’ I can’t stand another day/ If I don’t get to heaven/ you best believe there’s gonna be hell to pay….” I love it!

“Heartache No. 3” is another mid tempo country pop confection with another killer chorus and of course Tanya’s raspy sass – “Oh Lord help me here I go again/ I gotta admit this is sure more fun/ than just being friends/ I can’t help it baby you look so good to me/ It’s two down and on my way to heartache number 3…”

The ballads are all super cool as well including a stellar performance in “We’re Playing Games Again” and though the lyrics aren’t perfect or anything, her performance is and like I’ve said before, this woman could sing the phone book and you’d believe you just heard her whole life laid out in front of you while “Stormy Weather”, written by pop aficionados Leo Sayer and Tom Snow, is a pretty little melody about the tumultuous relationship of our lady – and perhaps even a bit on the biographical side.

A cover of Dusty Springfield’s “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” may seem a little ambitious but we aren’t talking about the typical country singer or a fly by night lounge singer and though Tanya doesn’t exactly emulate Dusty, she does take the song and turn into her own, and I like it just a little less than the original – but had I not known Dusty’s original this may have been my favorite version.

“Rodeo Girls” was the second single and also included on the soundtrack to the Kristy McNichol/Dennis Quaid film The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia – it’s actually a very pretty song and once again Tanya rips the shizz off those barn doors. All about the unlikely woman groupie falling for rodeo riders, we learn a lot about these crazy heartbroken ladies – “Cowboys tell them they love them/ then they’re gone by the dawn’s early light/ they come and they go/ but the pain never shows/ cause rodeo girls don’t cry…” Aww, it’s kind of heartbreaking and super cool. Unfortunately the song only hit #83 on the country charts but what can you do?

My favorite (at the moment) of the ballads is “Lucky Enough For Two” which is just a simple little love song about two scorned lovers who find each other in a bar and tells the story all in the first verse – “you look so lonely sitting there/ table for two, one empty chair/ we’ve got a lot in common/ I’ve got the same problem as you/ you see I’m lonely too” and my favorite – “I didn’t come here just to think/ you didn’t come here just to drink/ what have we got to lose/ we both could sing the blues alone/ and then head on home” and a cool little refrain – “if you forget about her/ and I forget about him/ maybe we’ll lose these blues/ and get lucky enough/ lucky enough for two…”

The album ends with a duet once again performed by Tanya and Glen Campbell – “Shoulder To Shoulder” is a pretty song and again a bit better than some ballads – all about growing old and staying together it’s sentimental but not overly sweet, and actually the more I listed to it, the more I love it. Perhaps getting married a while ago has turned me into a sap.

The whole Should I Do It album combines just the right pop elements with a big heap of country twang that makes it come off like you just spent the night in a honkey tonk bar – and you know that means I frickin’ love it.

To add to those country bar nights we added a few bonus cuts including the theme song to the film The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia that our girl performed over the opening credits and actually appeared on the soundtrack album.

The most interesting thing about the song is its lyrics. The film is supposedly based on the original song sung by Vicki Lawrence but the lyrics to this version are completely different except for the title – it’s strange but it actually makes a little sense as the Tanya version talks about a brother/sister pair of singers instead of just the love affair gone horribly wrong in the original. Personally I like the lyrics of the original better but Tanya certainly kicks it on this version. (and extra thanks to all those nice TT fans who sent me copies of this song as my original was pretty crappy - luckily I also found a copy of the soundtrack on vinyl so all is now good.)

The final two cuts come from her next official MCA Records release Live, which came out in 1982. You can find the CD online with two different covers. Now I’m not a huge fan of live albums but this one did contain two new songs she hadn’t done studio versions for, a cover of “The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down” which is just fun and I’m sure any Southerner would take great pride in, while “Somebody Buy This Cowgirl A Beer” is an absolute riot and completely makes this album a honkey tonking drinking album.

Tanya Tucker – Should I Do It (bub109)
Track List:
01.Should I Do It 02. Stormy Weather 03. Halfway To Heaven 04. Heartache No. 3 05. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me 06. Rodeo Girls 07. I Oughta’ Let Go 08. Lucky Enough For Two 09. We’re Playing Games Again 10. Shoulder To Shoulder (with Glen Campbell)
Bonus Tracks:
11. The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia 12. Somebody Buy This Cowgirl A Beer (live) 13. The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down (live)

After the Live album in 1982 came a compilation The Best Of Tanya Tucker and then Tanya's MCA Records contract was over and kaput - but as anyone who knows anything of music will tell you Tanya was far from over.... but before she was able to crawl back from the trenches, she landed herself a one off album deal with Arista Records and that's where we'll be heading tomorrow so until then - here's a few little downloads from Should I Do It that I know you'll enjoy:

Download the entire album and artwork: